Developing Your Garden
Design your garden:
Decide where to put raised beds, vegetable rows, flowers, a compost pile, and everything else you decide to put in the garden.
Raised beds are great for a small space and give a higher yield per square foot.
raised-garden-beds
dowling community garden
When planting rows of vegetables, prepare the soil by tilling or raking. If using a tiller, avoid tilling deeper than 6 inches. Tilling too deep will cause water to run deeper instead of being absorbed by the roots of your plants. Consider creating a shallow trench between rows to make for easier watering.
Plant flowers to attract insects that will pollinate your plants and prey on pests that will eat your crops.
master garden products
grinning planet
Prepare and maintain the land:
Start by cleaning up debris and raking plots to plant on. Plant cover crops to improve poor soil or to better soil during the winter. Put some energy into weed control.
Cover crops will help to improve the soil and help you to produce more vegetables in the future. Cover crops include buckwheat and rye.
cover crop
agry.purdue
Controlling and pulling weeds is a big part of gardening. To organically prevent weeds and save time, put recycled cardboard between your rows and around your plants. Try putting leaf mulch around your plants as well. You can also lay straw along your rows. These techniques also help to keep moisture in the soil.
You can put black plastic over your rows to prevent weeds or use plastic to cover an area that you plan to plant on in the future.
weeds
weed control
Organize:
Plan a regular work day, make a schedule for watering, and ensure that everyone knows their responsibilities.
Having a regularly scheduled work day and meetings help to get bigger tasks accomplished and keeps everyone on the same page.
Making sure that someone waters at least once a week is especially important.
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